


32 Days of Storybrooke Horror

by justmyluckiness



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8172979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justmyluckiness/pseuds/justmyluckiness
Summary: With 32 days left until Halloween, here are 32 short stories of horror and suspense to lead up to the holiday. Monsters, ghosts, vampires, zombies, and other nightmares invade our fair town over the next month. How will our heroes respond and cope?
Not well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm trying something new, and I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but here goes. There are 32 days left until Halloween, so I thought I'd try my hands at short horror stories. No more than 1,500 words each, I'm going to see how this works.
> 
> For the love of all that is holy please keep this in mind: This is HORROR. There WILL be major characters dying - in every chapter, if I can manage it :) Mostly the characters I dislike most, but every main cast member will die at least once here over the next few weeks. This is horror and parody. It's supposed to be that way :)
> 
> Rated T for now, but the rating may change later on depending on gore or sex. No beta saw this work, so all mistakes are mine. I'll try to get future stories beta'd, but with trying to post a new story every day, that may not be possible. No resemblance to any real people, places, or events is intended.

"Miss Swan! I need you to drop whatever mindless waste of Storybrooke's funds is currently occupying your attention!" Regina barked into her cell phone, hiding the smirk in her voice.

" _What is it now, Regina? I was just about to set a new record for most trashcan basketball shots made in a row!"_

Regina rolled her eyes. "While that may be exciting as you squander the town's precious funds, I have something in my crypt that requires your immediate attention." She shot a wicked smirk at the reason she wanted Emma to leave the station as she hung up. "Don't worry. The party's about to begin. Everyone just stay quiet until she gets here."

* * *

The entrance to Regina's crypt slid open. "This better be good, Regina! I was about to get lunch! Granny's has a special triple-cheese grilled cheese today! Do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to a gooey mess of provolone, cheddar, and Swiss? Of course you wouldn't, because you haven't been here for the last two weeks. Two damn weeks, woman! I haven't seen those amazing boobs of yours in fourteen days! Why did you leave, anyw…"

Emma's rant trailed off into nothing as she made her way into the tomb-like silence of Regina's magical sanctuary. Her jaw dropped as she took the sight that awaited her. "Regina? What the fu…?"

Her expression turned confused, though it was hard to tell with the flickering light. The blonde's hands flexed, causing rippling muscles up and down her arms to clench. Regina's mouth – and other areas – watered at the sight of her badass fiancé. "Do you like your engagement present, my love?" she greeted with an ear-to-ear grin. "I know it might be over the top, but I knew it was something no one else could get you."

Looking around at the dozen or so individuals chained to the walls of Regina's crypt, Emma beheld for the first time in years the worst foster parents she'd been cursed to suffer, now with gags tied around their mouths. Apparently her fiancé was saving her magic for whatever she had planned.

"Regina?"

"Well, it turns out Sydney has his uses. All I told him was that I needed a favor, and he was only too happy to oblige. I remembered what you told me about all the foster parents who abused you, gave you back, and so on and so forth, and he was able to track them down. I left for two weeks to bring them back here," Regina explained, growing more hesitant as she went on, suddenly unsure how her gift would be received. Emma had been trying to fight the darkness ever since her sacrifice. Giving her this kind of gift might not go over well.

She needn't have worried. A malevolent grin spread across Emma's face as she looked from the Swans, who gave her back to the group home after getting pregnant when she was three, around the crypt. Regina's magic had retrofitted the now-bare room with a drain in the center of the floor and a case of wickedly sharp surgical instruments against one wall. "I love it!" she exclaimed before wrapping her arms around the brunette and giving her a kiss that left both their toes curling in its passion.

"I just thought – well, I finally got my full revenge on Snow when she barged into the Mayor's office and caught me bending you over the desk with our favorite strap-on, so for the rest of her life she'll have that image in her head whenever she sees either of us – that it would be something nice to help you get your revenge for the way they treated you as a child," Regina answered.

"You know me so well," Emma grinned.

As one, they turned to face their prisoners. "Where shall we start?" Regina asked, waving her hand and making their gags disappear.

"Emma! Emma what is going on? Why is this woman holding us prisoner?" Mrs. Swan almost shouted, struggling against her bonds. "What did we ever do to you?"

"What did you do to me?" Emma growled, the very air around them darkening with her rage. "What did you DO to me? You took me into your home, adopted me, and then gave me back when you got pregnant! You returned a vulnerable little child like a tacky sweater! I had to spend the rest of my life bouncing from one of these other assholes to another, abused and unloved until this amazing woman came into my life."

"But, but, but…" one of the others protested.

"No buts! No more anything from any of you," Emma rumbled, growing darker and angrier with each moment. She stalked over to the rows of prisoners, white magic sparking across her fingertips. "You were the monsters of my youth, giving me nightmares every single night about what you might do next to me. Well guess what? I've grown up, and do you know who I am now? I am the monster now," she gave an evil parody of a grin, baring her teeth, "and I will make sure that what happens to you now will live on in nightmares for decades to come!"

Picking up the sharpest, most jagged-looking scalpel she could find and regarded the Swans, a cruel, hungry look filling her eyes. "Why not start at the beginning? I think I want to have a chat with the two people most responsible for me taking your name when we get married."

Without another word, Regina cast a soundproofing spell on her crypt and watched the show.

* * *

Much later as they left the underground chamber for the sunlight once more, Regina stumbled. Her usually olive skin had taken on a pale clamminess, and it appeared she was having trouble breathing right. When they got up to the grass, Regina uncharacteristically stumbled in her heels.

"Babe?" Emma asked, concerned.

The brunette started at her fiancé's voice. She gulped, swallowed hard, and worked to get her gorge under control. "I spent ten years perpetrating atrocities across the Enchanted Forest as the Evil Queen," Regina breathed, "I've burned whole villages to the ground with people still in their homes. Grandparents, children, babies, all died at my hand, or my instigation. Even with all of that, I have never seen violence that made me feel like I was about to lose my lunch the way that…the way that all of that did," she gestured vaguely to the crypt behind her. "The way you…"

Emma laughed. "I feel so freed! It was more than taking revenge. The absolute fear in their eyes – you know, before I gouged one out – and the knowledge that no other foster kids will ever suffer at their hands the way I did…thank you, my love. This was the best gift I've ever been given."

Surprised at the lighthearted tone in her fiancé's voice, Regina interlaced her fingers with Emma's and gave the blonde's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Are you okay after all that?" she asked, knowing from personal experience how taking a life could darken the soul.

To her surprise, Emma giggled. She waved her hands, sending a plume of grey smoke back to the crypt, presumably restoring the room to its former condition. "I'm wonderful! It feels like a weight has left my shoulders, knowing those monsters won't ever be able to abuse another child cursed to their care ever again!"

"I'm so glad," the brunette breathed "For a while I wasn't sure how you'd react."

"I appreciate the concern," Emma answered with another wave of her hand, "but I'm fine, I promise."

For a while the two women walked in silence, merely enjoying each other's company on the cool autumnal afternoon as the sunlight filtered through the coloring foliage. After a few moments had passed, a sly thought put a mischievous grin on Emma's face. Regina's squeal (which no threat would ever be enough to get her to admit to having made) as her hand slid over and squeezed the brunette's ass was everything she had hoped it would be.

"Now, how about I figure out a way to thank you properly? We haven't used to the couch in your office in a while. Want me to set up an appointment with someone else in town we can traumatize?" Emma grinned, cutting off any protests.

Regina's rich, throaty laughter followed them back into town.


	2. Snow Snaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow's finally had enough with the seven funny little men in her life.

“Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Snow paused her cooing to scan around the dwarves’ dining room. Not seeing her quarry, she moved on silent feet into the kitchen. “Oh come on, I wanted to give you a show!”

Just as she expected, Dopey’s head popped up from behind the counter with a huge, lecherous grin and wide eyes. His tongue was even hanging out. “Gotcha!” she exclaimed, releasing her arrow. The wide eyes of her target made it an easy shot straight through his cornea. Her arrow flew true, pinning the dwarf’s head to the wall behind him with a spray of blood and brains. “Huh. Look at that. He had a brain after all,” mused Snow, nocking another arrow and looking for another target.

Prowling into the living room, she heard a soft noise coming from the sofa, but since it faced away from her she couldn’t tell who was there. Approaching closer, she heard the noises become snores. “Sleepy,” she grinned. Snow quickly tucked the arrow back into her quiver and slipped a wicked-looking curved hunting knife out of a hidden sheathe in her boot. Sidling over to the sofa, she tensed her legs and leapt over the back, turning in mid-air. Sleepy woke up at the soft thud of her landing, but only had time to freeze his face in a mask of pure terror before her knife sliced his jugular.

Sleepy bled out with nothing more than a choked gurgle in front of Snow White’s gleeful eyes. Before she could proceed with her hunt, her phone rang. Seeing who it was, she answered with an impatient huff. “Charming! I told you not to call me while I’m taking care of this little infestation!”

_“Are you sure you want to go through with this, Snow?”_

“These perverts have peeped on me for the last time. I have no idea what I was thinking staying with them in the Enchanted Forest. What same woman would live in a cabin in the woods with seven men?!” Snow screeched, “Now, I have 3 perverts down which means four more to go. I’m going to save Grumpy for last. He’s always been the worst.”

_“Three?”_

“Yeah, I just got Sleepy with my knife, Dopey with an arrow, and…well…the less said about what I did to Bashful the better.”

“… _I really don’t think this is a good idea.”_

“Well, it wasn’t you that found the mini-camera in our shower yesterday, was it, David?”

_“Just don’t leave too much of a mess. I need to smooth things over with Emma and Regina. They can be sticklers for the laws of this world.”_

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about me. I’ll clean up the mess.” Snow ended the call with a grunt. Wiping her knife on Sleepy’s shirt, she re-sheathed it and started planning her next move in the house.

One of them thumped upstairs, making her look up with delight. “Number four on the way!”

* * *

“Oh my God,” Emma breathed, trying to keep her lunch down. “What the hell happened here?”

Regina grimaced. “This was a bloodbath. I haven’t seen carnage like this since I was the Evil Queen.”

“Is this all of them?” the Sheriff asked, as she went from room to room doing a body count.

“One, two, three, four, five, six…I don’t think we’ll ever find all of Bashful,” Regina clarified, coughing a little on her own nausea.

“So what are we going to do about my mom?”

“Are we even sure she did this? I don’t see her name anywhere here. She didn’t leave a calling card,” shrugged the brunette.

Emma turned to look at her girlfriend, incredulity oozing from her pores. “The Seven Dwarves – of the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, mind you – were all brutally murdered, one shot through the eye with an arrow, one with his throat slit and a perfect imprint of a hunting knife left in blood on his shirt, one poisoned with a laced brownie, one picked up and dropped by a suspiciously large eagle, one run over by a car that had swords fixed to the bumper – and I have to remember to pick my mother up from school today since her car is in the shop for unspecified body work – another one hung by a rope made from the dirty boxer shorts of all the others, and finally poor Bashful, are all murdered, and you tell me your arch nemesis Snow White is actually NOT a suspect?” By the end of her impromptu recitation of the means by which the dwarves had met their fates Emma was breathing so hard she was almost panting, both from the exertion of speaking without pausing and trying to convince herself that her sweet mother was not a brutal psychopath.

“There’s no direct evidence, dear,” Regina murmured, stroking the blonde’s neck to calm her down. “So I suggest we mark this down to marauders who the dwarves somehow collectively offended. Maybe a rival gang of dwarves, like some twisted version of West Side Story?”

“I knew I never should have watched that musical with you,” Emma grumped, miffed that she was being told to disregard procedure, but conflicted since her top suspect was her own mother.

Regina rewarded her with a breathtaking smile. “Let’s head on home and get some dinner on the table. Maybe later tonight we can watch one of those special movies you like so much?”

“But what about all this?” Emma gestured to the blood-drenched house.

“All of what?” asked the mayor, flicking her wrist and sending the dwelling back to a pristine state in a swirl of smoky purple magic.

“It had better be a damn good movie,” muttered Emma as she followed Regina out.


	3. Henry Bates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry encounters an unwelcome visitor and...takes care of her.

Emma cursed as her baby, her one-time home, her yellow Bug sputtered and gasped to a halt in some random town in the middle of the woods in Maine. “Damn it!”

Beating on the dash didn’t help. Pumping the clutch and turning the key didn’t help. Her baby was dead.

Taking a look at her surroundings, she noticed that she was stalled along what seemed to be the town’s Main Street, near a large neo-classical structure that could only be the Town Hall, with the Liberty Bell replica outside. Looking down the road, she could see businesses lining the street, which seemed to end at the waterfront. She knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere cursing at her car, so Emma grabbed her cell phone, the messenger bag that doubled as her purse, and locked the doors before hiking down the sidewalk.

Before long, she’d found would be considered the downtown in this sleepy little burg. There was a creepy-looking pawn shop, the library with its interesting-looking clock tower, and an ice cream shop. “Any Given Sundae,” she snorted, “Cute.”

Finally on her left there was something promising. Granny’s Diner.

* * *

The diner failed to deliver on the promise. After lukewarm grilled cheese and soggy fries, Emma was left alone in the middle of a half-full diner to try and arrange service for her car. Upon learning that she was he local Triple-A office wouldn’t be able to get anyone out to her location for three days, she slumped back in her chair.

“Damn it all.”

“What’s got you so upset?” A voice asked far too close in her ear.

Emma jumped about six inches in the air at the noise. “Holy shit!” Turning to see the source of the intrusion, she beheld a small child, no more than ten years old with brown hair and eyes. A cherubic smile split his face. “What the hell, kid?”

“My mom says that’s a bad word I shouldn’t say. Did I scare you?” he asked, changing direction mid-breath.

She shook her head to make sense of what the kid was asking. “Yeah, you startled me a bit. What’s the deal with standing right behind my shoulder, anyway?”

He gave her what appeared to be his version of an apologetic smile. “Sorry. My mom says that’s rude, too. I was just walking in with her for dinner when I heard you get upset.”

Craning her neck to look around the small diner, Emma turned back to the boy. “Where is your mom anyway, kid?”

Pursing his lips, he didn’t answer right away. “My name’s Henry, not kid.”

“Sorry. Where’s your mom, Henry?”

The kid jerked his head toward a door in the back. “She went to ‘freshen up’,” he explained, even going as far as to make the air quotes. “Anyway, you were upset a minute ago. What’s wrong?”

Emma sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get rid of the kid anytime soon. “My car died and the repair service can’t get out here for another three days. I was just driving through and now I’m stuck without a place to stay other than the backseat of my car.”

“Well, this diner is part of a larger bed-and-breakfast. You could stay here. Or if you can’t afford it, my mom and I have a guest room at our house. I’m sure there wouldn’t be any problems with you staying with us.”

Furrowing her brows, Emma looked at the child. His unsolicited generosity was a surprise, but she wasn’t in any position to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’ll check with the manager of the B & B first kid, but if I can’t work something out here, I’ll let you know.”

Henry gave her an odd look before grabbing a napkin and scribbling a number. “Call her here when – sorry, if – you can’t arrange anything here.”

Every red flag was waving, every alarm siren was blaring, and every warning light was flashing in her mind at the strangeness of everything that had happened. From the kid showing up out of nowhere over her shoulder to the seeming absence of his mother to the glaring lack of concern anyone in the diner had for a child randomly approaching a stranger and talking with her.

Still…

She needed a place to stay. Sleeping in the backseat of her car during a Maine autumn would be far too cold for comfort. Shaking her head, she threw a few bills on the table and marched off to find the B & B manager.

* * *

Of course the bed and breakfast was booked solid. That seemed to fall perfectly in line with her car breaking down. The manager was apologetic, saying something about it being ‘Miner’s Day’ and most of the townspeople from the countryside wanted to stay in town rather than commute.

She snorted at the idea of a commute in a town this small.

“Damn!” Emma slammed her palm against the pillar supporting the awning outside the main door. 

The same small voice from earlier sounded behind her ear once again. “Bed and breakfast full up?”

This time she really did jump. “Holy hell, kid! You need to wear a bell or something!”

“Sorry,” Henry appeared contrite, “But I was just walking by and saw you get upset. Was the inn full?”

“Yeah,” grunted Emma, “All full for some Miner’s Day thing. Looks like I’m going to have to take you up on your offer, kid.”

With a Cheshire grin, he gestured for her to follow, and led the way. While they were walking, Emma noticed an eerie, empty sense of foreboding to the streets. The few people that were out gave them wary glances before hurrying on their way. Eventually they came to a long, winding path just off Main Street with imposing trees overhanging the gateway that led to a large, imposing white house.

“So where’s your mom, kid?” she asked, taking in the grand foyer of the house. No noises came from any of the rooms to indicate that anyone else was even there.

“Oh, she’s in her office doing Mayor stuff. She’s the Mayor of the town. And my name isn’t ‘Kid’. It’s Henry,” he both explained and insisted.

“Okay, fine, Henry. I just want to be sure she’s home, you know? I feel like I’m barging in here.”

He gestured for her to follow him up the stairs. “Oh don’t worry about that. She’s here, I promise. Now, here’s the guest room. It’s already made up. In there you’ll find a bathroom complete with a towel and washing supplies. I’ll just go find my mom to let her know that we have a guest.”

She cocked her head at his odd behavior, but chalked it up as another in the string of crazy happenings that day. Watching the kid leave, she moved into the bathroom and found it fully made up for a guest, just like the kid had promised. At the very least she’d be clean.

The shower was hot, the pressure was perfect, and the soap even smelled good. Things were starting to turn up after her day.

She was in the middle of rinsing the conditioner out of her hair when a hand yanked back the shower curtain. Her eyes were only just clear enough to behold a small figure standing before her with its hand raised.

“Henry? What are you doing?!” she shrieked just before the knife plunged into her body for the first time. Excruciating pain shot through her body as the kid stabbed her over and over.

* * *

When it was all over, Henry looked down at the sprawled body of the blonde woman. He gave a happy smile before turning the water off and leaving the bathroom. Opening the door to the master suite, he went in and stood beside a figure sprawled in a wingback chair by a roaring fire.

“It’s done, Mother,” he said in a quiet voice.

The flames were the only witness to the boy donning a blazer and a wig of black women’s hair. “Such a good little prince,” he uttered to the desiccated, mummified corpse in the chair.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby's finally had enough of Rumple's treatment of Belle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See earlier chapters for non-ownership disclaimer.

"But Belle! I promise this time I'll try to do better!"

The wheedling voice of the Dark One slithered across the cobblestones paving the dark alley behind Granny's, reaching Ruby's enhanced werewolf hearing. She was at the end of her rope, having been witness to any number of fights, squabbles, tiffs, and other disagreements between Rumpelstiltskin and Belle. She was determined that this would be the last that either of them had to suffer.

She dashed up to the roof, needing the height for surprise. The Dark One would be so focused on Belle that he would be blind to everything else around him. Ruby was counting on that tunnel vision. Peering over the edge, she saw the way Rumpelstiltskin had cornered the librarian against the wall behind Granny's.

Unbeknownst to any of the players on this stage, an audience had crept around the side of Granny's to bear witness to the strange drama unfolding. Regina and Emma were tensed, ready to intervene if things got out of control but willing to let Belle take control.

"You've said that time and time again, Rumple, but even I have my limits. You have always loved power more than me," Belle protested, "and I deserve more than that. I deserve the best, someone who loves me for me."

Gold shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind from conflicting thoughts. "I can't make the promise that I will always choose you. The darkness is too strong, has been in me for too long for that. I can promise to try."

Belle gave him an angry, dismissive shake of her head. "Not good enough, Rumple. This time I'm done." She pushed past him, using her shoulder to lever him out of the way.

It was a mistake.

As soon as her back was turned, the Dark One took over. Ruby saw the darkness shimmer across his eyes, setting off her instincts. She had already shifted when he reached out for her shoulder.

In the split-second between impulse and action, a memory flashed through her mind. When Henry was about seven years old, she was babysitting for Regina while she handled a town meeting. There was a book that Henry was obsessed with about a mongoose protecting a colonial family in India from a couple of cobras. When the mongoose was setting his ambush for the male cobra, he noted that the best way to kill the snake was to aim for the neck, where the hood met the head.

She aimed her strike at the same spot on Gold.

Without the roar that she really wanted to unleash for the look of shock on his face alone, Ruby pounced. The last thing she saw before biting down on his spine was Belle's face. Instead of fear, apprehension, or disgust, she saw a thrill of excitement.

Belle knew her, and wasn't revolted in the moment. Ruby's jaws bit down on his spine, a satisfying crunch of bone echoing around the alley as the coppery tang of blood filled her mouth. Gold's was different than she was used to, though. The taint of rot from the darkness permeated his essence, almost making her gag, but she hung on until his thrashing ceased and the movement left his body.

Tendrils of black goo somehow started escaping his body, slithering and flowing through the air on their own. Ruby shifted back just before they started encircling her body, lifting her up before dropping her back to the pavement with a thud.

Before her eyes, the same black tendrils moved off to focus their attention on Belle. They surrounded her, lifting her, sliding around her limbs in a perverse parody of a lover. When they started to enter her, Ruby sprang into action. "Belle! Don't give in! Look at me, Belle!"

When her pupils started darkening, Ruby jumped into action, doing the only thing she knew to do. She crashed her lips onto the librarians, feeling the pulse of colored light shoot out from around them as the warm, firm press of Belle's lips short-circuited her brain.

After some time had passed – Ruby would never be able to figure out exactly how long it was – her eyes blinked open to see Belle's clear eyes staring back at her.

"Hi," she breathed, though it came out as more of an explosion of air and giggle.

Belle returned her relieved smile. "Hi. Took you long enough."

At the end of the alley, Emma and Regina shared a look of their own, having seen the unmistakable pulse of True Love's Kiss explode from Ruby and Belle. They agreed in silence to let the other women have their moment in private and returned to the diner.

With her own attention fully focused on her True Love, even Ruby couldn't see Belle's hand twisted behind her own back, clutching the jagged Kris dagger with the name "Belle French" etched on its blade.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina has her revenge at long last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See first chapter for disclaimer of ownership.

"Regina please! You don't have to do this!" Snow pleaded, struggling against her bonds.

The older woman's answering smirk was all Evil Queen. "Actually I do. You've taken everything away from me. First your blabbermouth got Daniel killed before my eyes, then you somehow got me to kill my own mother. Trust me when I say that you have all of this coming and more."

"Yeah, but this? This?"

"Especially this," Regina purred as she took in the sight of her arch nemesis chained to her vault's wall. The pest was bound hand and foot with thick metal links, while a helmet also bolted to the wall locked her head in place. The bloody remains of her husband were splattered across the floor, a look of pure horror frozen forever on his face.

The intensity of the hate in Regina's eyes forced Snow to look anywhere else, but unfortunately for her the only other places for her gaze to go were her husband's mutilated body and her daughter's…exposed body.

Regina had Emma tied up as well, but in much different circumstance. Emma was bound hand and foot, but with velvet ropes and fully nude. She was on her back on a soft bed that Regina had somehow magicked into her vault. Candles surrounded the bed on a series of shelves, casting their glow on very specific places of Emma's body.

"Emma, I am so sorry that Regina forced you into this. I can't imagine the trauma you must be feeling. Keep your hope up, sweetheart, and we'll get out of this somehow. Regina won't get her revenge today!"

To Snow's surprise, instead of a tearful acknowledgement of her support, Emma gave her a dry, humorless chuckle in return. "Oh, Snow. You understood me so much better before the Curse broke when you were my friend instead of trying make up for my fucked-up childhood. Regina hasn't forced me to do anything. I'm right where I want to be."

"Exactly, dear. Now, what are the rules for tonight?" Regina smirked first at Snow, then softened into a full, warm smile when she turned to her girlfriend.

Emma took a deep breath. "I get to say whatever I want, whenever I want, but I don't get to cum until you do."

"EMMA….SWAN! Sorry, I don't know what your middle name is," Snow added in a much smaller voice than her earlier outrage, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The blonde turned to look at her mother. "I know exactly what I'm doing _Mother_ ," she growled, knowing exactly what the raspy tone of her growl did to certain parts of Regina's anatomy, "and that's exactly why I'm doing it. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. You and Dad over there shoved me through a tree when I was two minutes old, trusting that I would somehow survive infancy in whatever world I ended up in. I grew up alone, unloved, and unwanted. Now we're all here, and you somehow trick Regina into killing her own mother, then you replace me with a baby who's not broken, without my issues, and name him after Rumpelstiltskin's son who knocked me up and then let me take the rap in prison for his crimes? This isn't just Regina's revenge. It's mine, too."

The exertion and emotion in her impromptu soliloquy left Emma breathless panting, and fighting tears. Regina couldn't bear to see her emotional pain, so she walked forward and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Emma's lips, willing all her pain to disappear. As it happened so many times before, the force of their love was stronger than any other emotion. When Regina pulled away, Emma sighed in pure contentment. "Don't let her get to you, my love. Today we gain our vengeance and write our own happy ending," Regina promised.

"Do it," Emma replied, hearing a shocked gasp from the other side of the room. "My safe word is apples."

Rich, rolling belly laughter filled the small room. "Of course it is, dear." Regina waved her hand and caused her clothes to disappear in a swirl of purple. She stood bare before both women except for a purple strap-on cock attached to a harness. Without pause, she climbed up on the bed atop her True Love – not that the Charmings had ever bothered acknowledging the pulses of _their_ True Love kisses – and slid the cock into Emma's quivering, dripping pussy with one steady push.

It was a train wreck. The sheer horror of the sight kept Snow from looking away as Regina defiled her daughter, though she was able to force her eyes to the foot of the bed. She refused to believe that it was a consensual act, but eventually the singular lack of protests combined with Emma's growing sounds of pleasure proved her belief false. Just as the shouts got their loudest, a shock wave stronger than any she had ever experienced shot through the room, leaving her breathless with its power. "What the hell was that?" she asked after the screams died down.

"My dear Snow," Regina began, making her way down off the bed on unsteady legs after clothing herself once more, "I know that you know what True Love's kiss is, and that it can break any curse."

"You're saying that was True Love's kiss? That was nothing like what happened any of the times David and I woke each other," the younger woman protested.

Regina's answering smile was so evil it made her shiver. "Of course that wasn't True Love's Kiss. We've done that already and you refused to believe it. What you just saw was the wave of power that comes only from the full and complete True Love union of two magical users. True Love's Fuck, as it were."

Snow gaped, mouth moving up and down like a goldfish but unable to form words.

With another wave, Emma was not only released from her bonds but also clothed as she rejoined Regina. "Was it good for you too, dear?"

Finally finding her voice, Snow looked at her daughter. "Emma?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"I don't know what to tell you, Mother," Emma answered, "You just saw the evidence for yourself. Regina is my True Love, and we're done being made to suffer from you."

"All four of us," agreed the older woman.

"Four?" asked Snow in confusion.

"Did I not mention that part?" Regina sassed. "The side effect to every True Love union between at least one female magic user is a pregnancy. I just knocked up your daughter, Snow! Doesn't this mean you defend me to the end of time or something like that?"

Tears rolling down her face, Snow looked at her daughter. "I am so sorry for everything, Emma. If I could just…"

"Save it," Emma barked at her, cutting off the sobbing apology. "I told you: I'm done with all this. When I needed parents in the first twenty-eight years of my life you weren't there, and I survived okay. I sure as hell don't need parents now. Regina, do your thing. Snow, it's been a real…something. I'll make sure Neal's taken care of."

Without another word, Emma marched up the stairs. Regina looked at her former nemesis, shrugged and plunged her hand into Snow's chest without another word. Holding the pulsing organ in her hands and studying the growing streaks of black, Regina met the younger woman's gaze. "I'm finally holding your heart in my hands. There should be more ceremony to this moment, but you see: the mother of my child just left without me, and I'm feeling the powerful need to rejoin her and reassure her that I love her with all my heart. It's about damn time someone put her first. So, all I have to say is: enjoy the Underworld, Snow. Say hi to Daniel and my mother for me."

She crushed the heart to dust, reveling in Snow's scream of pain and the knowledge that the last thing the infuriating woman saw was the mutilated body of her husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone get the pop culture reference? Bonus points if you did!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't even know where these are coming from anymore.
> 
> See first chapter for non-ownership disclaimer.

"Look at this adorable little doll I found in Mr. Gold's shop," Mary Margaret said to her family, gathered in Regina's great room for a movie night. She held up a porcelain doll that had clearly seen a few thousand hard miles. One pigtail was missing, various dirt and scuff marks marred its surface, and some of its faded pink and white plaid clothes were torn. One eye was even partly worn off.

"Mom! What the hell is that?" exclaimed Emma, scooting away from the doll and closer to her girlfriend.

Regina, placing a reassuring arm around the blonde, eyed the doll with a suspicious expression of her own. "Yes, Snow. Exactly why did you bring that creepy…thing…into my house?"

Snow actually had the temerity to look affronted. "I think it's darling! Sure it needs a little cleaning, but to me it looks like a well-loved doll that some child enjoyed for a very long time."

"It looks like some twisted hellish vision of a doll," Emma interjected and her mother honest-to-God pouted.

Taking in the nonverbal cues, Regina nudged her. "I think your mother wanted to give it to you so the two of you could spend some time playing with the doll, like she missed in your childhood."

Emma looked even more horrified at that thought than she had at the doll. "Um, yeah, thanks anyway, Snow, but I'm going to have to say no. It's not that I don't appreciate the idea, but I really don't want to be anywhere near that thing."

Pout deepening, Snow carefully placed the doll back into her purse, and the family gathering went on as if the interruption had never happened.

No one noticed the doll's one good eye moving around, seeing everyone gathered.

* * *

Over the next few days, Emma started noticing odd happenings. Her mother started developing dark circles under her eyes, as if she wasn't sleeping at all while her father was going around looking more and more confused, sometimes talking to himself as if there was something he was trying to figure out.

One day at the station, she decided enough was enough. "What's going on, Dad?" she asked, using the familial term in hopes of making him more willing to open up.

He stopped mid-sentence and looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time that day. "You'd think I was crazy."

Emma chuckled. "I moved to this town four years ago at the insistence of my son, who was adopted from birth by a woman I came to know as the Evil Queen. My parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, I've babysat Robin Hood's son, my best friend is the Big Bad Wolf AND Little Red Riding Hood, and the Seven Dwarves work in the mines beneath town. Try me," she dared with folded arms.

"When you put it that way," he gave her a weak grin, "Okay, you remember that doll your mother brought over to Regina's the other day?"

"How could I forget? Damn thing still gives me nightmares," Emma shuddered, leaning back on her desk.

"Well, that's the thing. She tossed it into a corner that night when we got home and we pretty much forgot about it," he began, frowning as he tried to remember the sequence of events, "but the next morning it was in the kitchen. When we got home from work that evening, it was on the stairs. I got a little weirded out, so I used Neal's video baby monitor, but even looking at footage from there didn't show anything. The next morning it was on top of the stairs, even though Snow put it back in the corner, and the camera didn't show it actually moving. It just was in a different place from one frame to the next."

During David's explanation, Emma's eyes grew wider and wider. Seemingly impossible, she'd seen enough horror movies and had been sufficiently creeped out by the doll to not rule out the impossible firsthand. "What happened next?"

"The next two mornings it had made its way into our bedroom," he half-whispered as his face blanched. "Snow even found it on her nightstand yesterday, staring down at her with its one good eye."

"So what do you think we should do about it?"

"Snow and I were hoping we could bring it to Regina's for you two magic users to have a crack at it. She thinks it's enchanted and I can't find a better explanation," he suggested.

Emma furrowed her brows, thinking over his words. "Yeah, it sounds like something we should look at."

* * *

Leaving Neal with Granny, David and Snow came right over with the doll trapped in a strongbox. He just about tossed the box at them, fearful of what was inside. Regina took the box and set it up in her foyer, confident that she could handle a little enchanted porcelain. And if it somehow gave her fireballs trouble, Emma was right there with her. David and Snow took up positions in the living room, fearful of what horror would be unleashed when the box was opened.

It really _should_ have been the right thing to do. With Belle kicking Rumple's balls over the town line and Snow beating the Blue Fairy into a sparkly pulp – after the truth about Blue's lie regarding the carrying capacity of the enchanted wardrobe came to light – they were the two most powerful magic users left in Storybrooke.

Blasting the evil doll with twin streams of their magic should have blown it to smithereens, but instead it seemed to activate some type of trigger within the doll. A pulse of scarlet spread throughout the house as a high-pitched shriek sounded from the doll.

"That can't be good," Emma murmured, swiveling her head around wildly.

Shrieks sounded from upstairs, making every adult to look at the stairs with fear, knowing where the sounds had come from. They heard a thumping and banging sound, as if someone were slamming bodily into the walls. Mere moments later Henry emerged with various superhero figures clinging to various parts of his body. Captain America was beating his head with a shield while the Incredible Hulk was smashing his fists against Henry's chest and shouting 'Hulk smash!' in a very high-pitched voice as the boy stumbled down the stairs.

"Henry!" Emma shouted, face turning to horror at the sight of a tiny toy sword emerging from his chest.

"Mom?" he asked, confused as to why he had a weapon stuck through him.

When he fell backward, dead, it wasn't just the mothers who screamed. Snow joined in, but for different reasons. The doll that started the whole mess had grabbed a butcher knife from Regina's kitchen and was charging hard for her. David whipped out his service pistol and squeezed off two quick shots, knocking the doll backward as one of its arms flew off.

Toys seemed to spring out of nowhere, emerging from closets where they'd been stored from Henry's childhood. They all seemed possessed by the same malevolent spirit that started the first one after them. Emma found herself grappling with a miniature Transformer robot while David was trying to use a fire poker against a stuffed teddy bear which had grown claws and teeth, attacking him with a ferocious snarl.

"Transform this!" Emma shouted, finally getting a hold of the toy and throwing it across the room, where it fell onto the hearth and broke apart.

David tried ripping the head of the teddy bear off but its arms and legs still moved with the original malevolent intent. Only when he had torn off all its limbs and thrust the pieces into the fireplace did the toy stop trying to kill him.

"Enough of this crap," Regina growled, finally having reached her limit. With a snarl, she started blasting waves of magic at the toys, melting the plastic ones in their spots and incinerating the fabric playthings. At last the only toy that was left was the ceramic doll. It moved with a superhuman speed, dodging both Regina's fireballs and Emma's blasts of energy. With an ear-piercing giggle it started whirling around the room so fast it became a blur.

Somehow it was able to fight its way to Snow, slashing her across the neck so violently her head lolled back from the rest of her body in a spray of red.

" _Snow!"_ David shouted, charging for the doll with the poker. He swung it like a golf club when he got close, but the possessed toy jumped out of the way.

"Regina! Now!" Emma pleaded, knowing that the brunette would know what she meant. They blasted twin streams of high-energy magic at the doll, blasting it to smithereens.

For the beat of a heart, everyone present looked around the room with wild eyes, panting with their exertion and waiting for the next threat to come.

They were alone in a room with destroyed toys and dead bodies.

David, Emma and Regina gave each other consoling hugs over their losses and went into the kitchen to talk about what to do next. Leaving the room, none of them saw the bits of porcelain dust slowly reassembling into the same crazed doll.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See first chapter for Disclaimer

It started with the dwarves. These kinds of things always started with the dwarves.

They were digging in the mines, trying to find another source of fairy dust when they uncovered another coffin.

A black coffin with strange markings, to be precise. The text appeared to be Eastern European to Emma’s eyes when she examined the coffin. The empty coffin, to be more precise.

When the dwarves found the coffin, they naturally opened it. Without calling Blue, Emma, or even Regina. As soon as the coffin was exposed to the air, whatever was inside disintegrated into dust. They closed up the coffin and put it out of their minds until dinnertime at Granny’s when Grumpy wondered aloud what could have turned into dust so quickly from a coffin. He just happened to be speaking within earshot of Emma and Regina’s six-month anniversary dinner.

“Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight: you cracked open a coffin, saw whatever was in there explode into dust, and you didn’t think that was weird enough to tell one of the magic users here? In _Storybrooke?!”_ Emma practically spat the last words.

“I think it might be time to commission a town study of how Dwarves’ brains develop in the egg, if this is an example of their reasoning skills,” Regina mused as Emma grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the diner, into the Bug and drove like a bat out of hell to the mines.

* * *

“Of COURSE the dwarves open a coffin and then forget about it. Of COURSE they don’t tell us that whatever was in the coffin might be on the loose?” Emma ranted as they made their way down the recently-repaired elevator to the level where the dwarves had been mining.

Regina raised her eyebrows at some of the more colorful expressions that found their way into the blonde’s fuming. Emma certainly had a…creative…vocabulary. “You think something could have escaped? Nothing can reverse the process of death. It’s the one thing magic hasn’t been able to overcome.”

“Maybe in your world, but in this world there are _things_ that can survive death,” Emma growled, “Things that I shouldn’t know as much as I do about.”

Eyes wide, Regina turned to look at her, but before she could ask, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

The coffin lay where the dwarves said it would be, partially shrouded in shadows due to the inadequate lighting in the depths of the mines. Approaching slowly, Regina fell back to allow Emma room to study it, since she seemed to know more about what was happening.

“Fuck!”

“What? What’s wrong?” asked Regina, moving to her side and scanning around the dark. 

“Remember when we were hoping for the best outcome where a body just disintegrated?”

“Yeah…” the brunette trailed off, the sinking feeling in her stomach telling her what was coming.

Gesturing to the exposed lid of the coffin, Emma said in a resigned voice, “It’s worse. That’s Romanian.”

“How the hell do you know Romanian?” came the incredulous reply.

With a wry grin, Emma turned to the older woman. “One of my foster families was Romanian. I picked up on some words.”

“So what does it say?”

“I can’t make out all the words,” Emma pointed, “But right there it’s a prayer for deliverance from a great evil and that,” she gestured to the side where large block letters spelled out VAMPYR, “doesn’t really need an explanation.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious, pun intended.”

“So we’re now dealing with the undead. In Storybrooke,” Regina deadpanned, still disbelieving.

“Welcome to scenic Storybrooke, where our one residential property affords you the ability to fight demons, dragons, ogres, and now vampires,” Emma chuckled.

Shaking her head, Regina tried to get them back on track. “So what do we do about this vampire? How do we kill it…again?”

As they walked back to the elevator, Emma tried to remember everything she had ever heard from her old foster family and pop culture in general. “Well, if I remember my Buffy, they can’t go outside in the sunlight, but will die with a good hard staking or decapitating. Susceptible to magic, so between the two of us, we should be able to take out one little vamp.”

“Buffy? You’re basing our plan of attack against the undead on Buffy?!” Regina exploded as they got into the elevator car.

“Hey don’t knock it. Buffy got me through a lot as a teenager. It was very popular in that foster house. Hey! Wait a minute. I’m a smoking hot kickass blonde,” she wiggled her hands and conjured a perfect replica of Mr. Pointy, “And I have a stake. You’re a witch! I’m Buffy and you’re Willow! We have this thing nailed!”

 

“Oh you shining example of womanhood: please mother more of my children,” groaned said witch as her girlfriend bounced up and down on the balls of her feet with excitement.

* * *

The first victim was unexpected. They were on their way back to Granny’s when an unusually pale, sweaty Archie jumped out of the alley at them. “Emma, Regina,” he greeted, but the tremors gave away the fact that there was something wrong, even if the pale, clammy skin didn’t. Then there was the fact that he was nuzzling Regina’s neck. Green eyes flashing, Emma pulled out her stake and punched it through his heart.

“EMMA!” Regina shrieked, horrified at the murder.

Archie’s face was full of betrayal, but the blonde just waited calmly until his body vanished in a cloud of dust with an unearthly scream.

“How did you know it was him?”

“Well, he was pale…I mean paler than normal for Archie, and then the whole neck thing. I’d have staked him either way for that one,” Emma grinned.

“But Archie wasn’t a vampire before,” mused the Mayor.

“Which means we still have a hunt on our hands,” Emma finished.

* * *

On their way back to Regina’s mansion for the evening, Regina noticed a familiar form following them. “Your boyfriend’s behind us,” she teased, knowing Emma never had any real interest in the unwashed pirate.

“Great,” groaned the blonde. She turned around “I’ve told you a thousand times, Hook: I’m not interested!”

In the act of speaking up to support her girlfriend, something unexpected jumped out at the side of Regina’s eyes. Or rather, something expected didn’t jump out: as Hook passed the Pawn Shop, he cast no reflection in the window.

“Now, now, love. I just noticed the two most beautiful women in Storybrooke walking alone on a dark evening and thought you might care for an escort. You know, to make sure you get home safely. Maybe even reward my dashing bravery with a little audience participation in tonight’s performance?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

Without dignifying the comment with a reply, Regina swung her calfskin boot as hard as she could, catching him firmly in his produce section. As he went down, she snatched the stake from Emma’s pocket and gave Hook the same treatment Emma had given Archie.

“He didn’t show a reflection in the window when he walked by,” she explained with a smirk to Emma’s huge eyes. “The kick was just for me.”

* * *

A dark form was waiting on Regina’s porch when they arrived. “I have awoken after a thousand –year sleep to take my place as the rightful ruler of this world!” the man decreed!

Regina was unimpressed. “Not bloody likely.”

With a wave of her hand the vampire was immobilized. “Would you care to do the honors, Emma?”

The blonde shrugged. “Sure!” and staked the vampire into dust without further ceremony.  “Buffy made that look a lot harder.”

“Maybe we should have a marathon, Buffy?” Regina suggested with a wink.

“You know me too well, Willow!” chuckled Emma as they made their way inside for a night of binge-watching.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See first chapter for disclaimer.

“I’ll show them. I’ll show them all! I’m the fucking DARK ONE!” Emma snarled. Finally tired of Hook’s innuendos, her parent’s spotty attention, and Henry’s teenaged pissy attitude, she was going to let them all have it once and for all. The final straw had been Hook’s pitying chuckle when she got excited over a birthday party that she had to plan for herself, saying that she’d never had a party growing up.

She wanted no one’s pity.

A bubbling pot stood before her as she added ingredient after ingredient to her spell. “Fuck the Dark Curse. When I cast this spell they’re all going to know real pain!”

The final ingredient plopped into the bowl with a hiss which Emma mimicked in her glee.

* * *

“IT’S HERE!!” Grumpy shouted, running down Main Street from the outskirts of town. A dark, thundering cloud was rolling toward the town.

“Regina! What did you do?” Snow hissed.

Affronted, the mayor looked at the teacher with disgust. “Excuse you! I think by now that you’d know when I’ve cursed you, Snow. I’d curse your brains out. This isn’t my work.”

“She’s right,” David agreed, gesturing to the cloud, “That doesn’t look like her magic.”

Regina gave a tight nod as she saw what he meant. Unlike previous sparkly, thundering masses of clouds, this was a white-ish cloud, not her own purple, the green of Zelena’s magic, or the icy blue of Ingrid’s. “Whatever started this is something new,” she nodded.

As the clouds rolled closer and the dread in Regina’s stomach grew, something about the appearance of the magic in that cloud struck her. She’d seen that odd mix of white and black smoke, and the sparkles…

“What did you DO?” Regina shouted into the rumbling mist. “SWAN!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Then the magic was upon them, enveloping, surrounding, swallowing.

* * *

When they woke up, they were all in Emma’s new house on the outskirts of the town. Regina immediately noticed that she was the only one not strapped to a chair. Snow, Charming, Hook, and Henry were all bound hand and foot with thick leather straps, and even their heads were fixed in place, staring at a TV playing the opening credits of

With a whirl, she was teleported out of the house and back to her own, seeing The Dark One standing in front of her when the smoke cleared. The smoke that had the same color signature as the curse wave that recently engulfed them all.

“I knew Dark Ones were evil, but forcing your loved ones to watch a Duck Dynasty marathon? That’s just cruel,” she declared, folding her hands.

“Maybe, but they all deserved it. Plus this way you and I can finally have some quality alone time,” the onetime Savior purred, leaning in for a kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See first chapter for disclaimer

Even Storybrooke’s barrier didn’t protect it when they came.

Spread by infection from a mutation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the plague turned the recently dead into the undead.

Zombies.

No one was sure exactly where it started, because by the time anyone noticed what was going on the entire world was affected by a growing wave of zombies that sought out any living person they could detect.

Armies were useless against the rising tide of shuffling monsters who attacked the general population. By the time it was safe to lob bombs into their midst, there were far too many of them to make any differences and no one was willing to give the order to nuke the world.

Storybrooke held out for a while. Its barrier kept everyone and everything safe inside.

Until one fateful day.

While doing a routine sweep of the woods, Ruby came along a man who looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. Tall, thin, and white with a balding head, he stumbled across her path, collapsing at her feet. It wasn’t until later that Ruby realized he’d either bitten or scratched her ankle when he went down. He was moaning, but she was able to make out two words: Greg, his name, and Regina.

“Wait here. I’ll get you some help,” she instructed, turning and starting to run. Halfway back to town, her head started to feel fuzzy. By the time she got to Main Street, she was sweating and panting, as if she’d run a marathon.

Stumbling into Town Hall, she pushed her way past Regina’s secretary with a grunt and stumbled through the heavy wooden double doors. The last thing she saw before her vision went black was Regina’s surprised face as she rose from her desk.

* * *

“They’re _here?_ In _Storybrooke_?!” Emma shouted at her parents. “I thought they couldn’t get past the barrier!”

“That’s what we thought,” Snow shrugged, as helpless as her daughter, “but somehow they came across. Ruby was the first victim,” she trailed off and sat on the couch, voice breaking at the thought of losing her friend.

“ _RUBY?”_

Snow broke down, quietly sobbing onto David’s shoulder while he explained. “Ruby must have come across the first man to suffer the disease out in the woods. She attacked Regina in her office, but Regina was apparently able to get away.”

“And...Ruby?” Emma was scared to ask.

David just shook his head. “Regina tried to destroy her but had to get away.”

Pacing the room, Emma shook her head. “So what are we going to do? We can’t fight them. No one in this world has been able to stop that horde.”

Sharing a look with his wife, David leaned forward and looked at his daughter. “Blue has just enough fairy dust to make a portal. We can get back to the Enchanted Forest and close it behind us.”

“Okay. I don’t like it, but it looks like our only choice. I’ll get Regina and Henry, you guys get Neal and tell Blue to do it. Call as many people as you can and tell them to meet us at the convent in an hour. If the zombies have gotten through, we have to move fast.”

“Emma! Take my sword,” David urged, “Just in case there are more of them and you have to defend yourself.”

She looked nervously at the blade she’d once thrown through Maleficent, but nodded, strapping it around her waist and dashing out of the loft.

* * *

“Pick up, dammit woman!” Emma cursed at her phone. Regina wasn’t answering. Bad sign on this day. She punched in Henry’s number and called him, a recent co-parenting decision she’d made with her girlfriend after a big argument.

“Henry! You have to get to the convent! We’re opening a portal back to the Enchanted Forest. The zombies have gotten through.”

Henry promised to text his mom and meet her there as soon as possible, leaving her with only one person to find.

* * *

Regina still wasn’t answering, and in the brief moments in between her attempts to reach her girlfriend, David was blowing her phone up telling her to get to the convent.

“Time’s up, Emma. Blue’s ready to send us through and close it. You have to get here. Granny’s here, along with Archie, and Cinderella and her husband. We have to go. Now!”

Crossing her fingers that Regina had gotten any of her or Henry’s messages, Emma focused her energy and poofed to the convent.

* * *

Everyone was there. Everyone that had managed to get the warning to get away was there with what little treasures they’d managed to scrounge.

Emma frantically searched the crowd, looking for the soft espresso-colored hair that she’d learned to love combing with her fingers as they snuggled on the couch during cold winter nights. She scanned for the cocoa eyes that flashed with warmth and love whenever Emma’d done something especially sweet.

Nothing.

Heart breaking a little more with each person she saw who wasn’t her love, Emma started shoving through the crowd toward the portal, already open and swirling.

“Emma!” Snow shouted, recognizing her. “We have to go!”

Before Emma could answer, David started guiding people to the portal. One by one they went through until only Blue, Snow, David, Emma, and Henry were left. “Kid, you got to go,” she said through the tears coursing down her face, “I’ll be the last one through, waiting for your mom.”

He wanted to protest, but Emma pushed him to the portal and watched David helped him enter.

“Emma we have to go!” Snow pleaded as she cradled Neal to her chest. “Regina isn’t…”

“Don’t!” Emma choked out, “Don’t say it! She’s coming, I know she is! You guys go, take Blue, and I’ll be last. I have to give her one last chance. I love her! I have to give her my best chance.”

Her pleas worked. They didn’t want to, but her parents nodded and went through the portal themselves.

Just as they were through, she heard a noise behind her. Turning, her heart leapt as she saw Regina finally approaching. For the briefest instant, she felt a surge of relief at the thought that she wouldn’t be separated from her love.

But something was wrong.

Instead of her sure, confident stride, Regina was limping, almost shuffling along. Her skin had a sallow, greyish hue, and she appeared to be having trouble breathing.

Emma’s heart broke. Regina had been bitten, probably before she’d gotten away from Ruby.

It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but she had to protect her family and the Enchanted Forest. She couldn’t let this plague get through the portal.

Regina was getting closer as Emma drew her sword. Through her sobs, she whirled and struck the monster’s head clean from her shoulders.

She couldn’t look back at what was once Regina. The portal was closing, and she had to escape.

Emma felt like half a woman when she jumped through the portal to a cold and lonely future.


End file.
